Community Bookstore welcomed to Winsted with ribbon-cutting

Titles donated by Ralph Nader; activities planned

Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
Visitors check the selection of books at the Winsted Community Bookstore during its opening on Thursday.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

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Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
The Winsted community bookstore opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 414 Main Street on Thursday.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

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Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
A sign reading, "Readers think and thinkers read" encourages visitors at the Winsted Community Bookstore, which opened Thursday afternoon.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

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Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
The selection of books at the Winsted Community Bookstore were donated by its co-founder, Ralph Nader, who hopes to expand the volunteer-run facility to include readings,Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
The selection of books at the Winsted Community Bookstore were donated by its co-founder, Ralph Nader, who hopes to expand the volunteer-run facility to include readings, speakers and other activities.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

Image 5 of 5

Ben Lambert - The Register Citizen
Visitors peruse the selection of books at the Winsted Community Bookstore, during its opening on Main Street Thursday afternoon.

WINSTED >> A community book store was welcomed to Winsted with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, at 414 Main Street Thursday afternoon

The store will offer residents a selection of new books, according to Charlene LaVoie of the Office of the Community Lawyer.

Ralph Nader, the Office of the Community Lawyer, and The Law Works, a local non-profit, discussed plans to create a bookstore in the space in recent weeks — and ultimately, according to LaVoie, decided to move forward with the idea.

“Ralph wanted to try it. He rented this space, and we’ve had events here over the last... two-and-a-half (years). He wanted to see if there was any interest in a bookstore in Winsted, so he said, ‘let’s get a group of volunteers together and see what happens,” said LaVoie. “So that’s what we’re doing. We’re conducting a commercial experiment in bookselling.”

The books on offer at the store were purchased by Nader over the years, LaVoie said.

“What we have here are books that really deserve to still be in circulation, and being read by people,” said LaVoie. “They’re brand-new books, and he’s passionate about it, and been doing it for a while. And so, he wants to make them available to the public.”

Books at the store range in price from $5-$20 and are largely non-fiction. The selection includes cookbooks, biographies, historical works, and books on political theory, as well as a selection of novels.

A series of works by local authors are also on offer at the store.

“I think it’s important to have a bookstore in town — I really miss the corner book store,” said Virginia Shultz-Charette, a volunteer at the store. “There’s nothing like a good book.”

The possibility of holding lectures, classes and book signings in the new bookstore was raised in the announcement from Nader, the Office of the Community Lawyer, and The Law Works.

Helen Bunnell, director of Winsted’s Friends of Main Street and Town Manager Robert Geiger were also on hand Thursday to welcome the store to town. The Friends are preparing for the annual fall festival, set for Saturday on Main Street.

The book store will be open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, according to Shultz-Charette.